One who enjoys the high C's? / FRI 12-19-25 / Afirmativa enfática / Like He and Xe / 2023 musical with a Tony for Best Choreography / L.G.B.T.Q.+ rights activist Windsor / Fashion designer Schiaparelli / Silver of the Silver Bulletin / Prosecco relative / Source of motivation, informally

Constructor: Hemant Mehta

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: none 

Word of the Day: ILLINOISE (14A: 2023 musical with a Tony for Best Choreography) —

Illinoise is a 2023 dance revue musical with music and lyrics by Sufjan Stevens and an original story by Justin Peck and Jackie Sibblies Drury. The musical was inspired by Stevens' 2005 album Illinois. The musical follows a young man who joins a group of friends telling stories around a campfire about their childhoods and growing up in Illinois.

After a summer festival premiere, regional production and off-Broadway tryout, the show played on Broadway from April to August 2024 at the St. James Theatre; these productions have all been directed and choreographed by Peck. Reviews on Broadway were generally positive, and Illinoise was nominated for four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, winning one for Peck's choreography.

• • •

This puzzle seems sufficiently well made but man is it full of things I don't care for. Words and names I just don't want to see, ever. Take back your billionaire sports team owners and your poker-guys-turned-tiresome-pundits and especially take back the word NEPOBABIES, one of my most despised words, right up there with "adulting." Skin crawl every time I hear it. I'm embarrassed for people who say it. It's a feeble term of denigration against anyone who happens to have a prominent parent. It gets used casually and sneeringly and unthinkingly. Lord knows having rich / famous parents is going to afford you privilege, but calling, say, Rob Reiner a "NEPOBABY" (which I've seen *many* times this week) is a petty, stupid, unimaginative move—evidence of a mind and vocabulary that's social media-addled in the extreme. As slurs against the rich and undeserving go, I like the term "failson" because it focuses on the fact of failure, not just the biological connection to a rich/famous person, which, again, no one has any control over. Maya Hawke and Zoe Kazan are good actors, Sofia Coppola is a first-rate director! Calling them "NEPOBABIES" ... do you not feel like an idiot as the sounds that form that word escape your lips? It's somehow worse than INSPO—which, truthfully, I don't mind too much, as it's merely a shortening (of "inspiration") (49D: Source of motivation, informally). Bill Nighy (whose podcast "ill-advised" is my current favorite) put "INSPO" on his "Banned Words" list recently, and while I don't necessarily agree with the decision (it's not actually a terribly serious endeavor, this ever-expanding list), I thought, "... I get it." Some words just make you recoil. I like words, but they have a dark side, and NEPOBABIES is it. Anyway, you should listen to "ill-advised," as its chief virtue is that its charming host doesn't even pretend that you should share his opinions (despite the fact that it's a kind of call-in / advice show). The whole show is "an invitation to squander time." It's remarkably soothing and I can't believe I'm saying this about a podcast but I wish it were longer. I can't remember if NEPOBABIES has made the "Banned Words" list, but Bill, I'm begging you, please, add it. The only good thing with BABIES is the title is Sugar Babies. Oh, and the Manger Babies.

This puzzle started out in heavy crosswordese territory (ELSA to ASTI to start, oh no), but got better once I got into more wide-open territory. STUBBED TOES is weird in the plural, and the clue on it today is especially weird. "In a jam"? Does this mean that you "jammed" them against something, thereby stubbing them? If any clue ever needed a "?" on the end of it, this is it. I, for one, would not put "toe" and "jam" anywhere near each other in my crossword. If you don't understand why, please look up "toe-jam." Just as STUBBED TOES is odd in the plural (you usually just "stub your toe"), FREE-SOLOED is odd in the past tense, but I guess that is how you'd spell it. IN A DEEP HOLE sounds like a place where you'd EAT A BIG SANDWICH (i.e. it's a contrived-feeling phrase, the "deep" part in particular). I liked SWAG BAG and WAGE GAPS and BLENDED FAMILIES, but the only answer I really Loved today was DROPS DEAD. I didn't love OPERA-GOER, but I did love its clue ... once I understood that it wasn't referring to a mediocre student (59A: One who enjoys the high C's?).

No struggles today except with ILLINOISE. Seems very NYC-centric, that one (ironically). Are we generally expected to know what musical wins Best Choreography at the Tonys every year??? Seems like a big ask (pretty sure "big ask" is on the "Banned Words" list, btw). I was lucky enough to be familiar with Sufjan Stevens' album Illinois, which I always thought was called ILLINOISE because this is the cover:

At some point I believe he had a plan to make an album about each of the fifty states, but I don't think he got past Michigan and Illinois before turning to different projects. Illinois has some lovely songs on it—one of which is actually called "Come On! Feel the ILLINOISE!"

Bullets:

• 37A: L.G.B.T.Q.+ rights activist Windsor (EDIE) — remembered ELSA, forgot EDIE. A real win some/lose some crossword experience.
• 44A: ___ Hadley, "Clever Girl" novelist (TESSA) — absolutely no idea. INFERed it from crosses. Let's look at the book.

[my god this is the absolute worst cover design—white lady, standing, shot from behind—generic, ubiquitous; let's look at a better cover...]

[ah, that's better]

• 6D: Yard sale? (ALE) — ALE is (I'm told, by crosswords) sold in units called "yards." Actually, yard glasses—truly, the silliest-looking glasses known to man.

• 7D: Afirmativa enfática ("SI, SI!") — read "enfática" as "enfantica" and thought I was looking for a childish affirmative.
• 30D: Pitch catcher? (EAR) — if someone "pitches" an idea to you, you "catch" it ... with your EAR. Oh, actually, this probably refers to "pitch" in the musical sense. Either way.
• 33D: Like He and Xe (INERT) — this clue made me laugh, so bravo. I saw "He and Xe" and thought "oh, pronouns!" But no. Not "Xe" as in the neopronoun, but "Xe" as in Xenon (one of the noble gases, which are INERT).
• 53D: Half time? (TOCK) — the other half is TICK, presumably.

[Milo and TOCK]

It's time for 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲 now. Note: PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANY MORE PET PICS, I'M ALL FULL UP FOR THIS YEAR, thank you.

Here's Howdy—fierce in his tree-guarding, elegant in his white gloves.

[me, after fawning over the dog, zooming in on bookshelf: "Hey, they own Foucault's Pendulum, neat!"]
[Thanks, Alix!]

Zoey and Malcolm say "thank you for making us this Christmas bed, you may go now,"

[Thanks, Mara!]

Heather couldn't get all three of her cats into one photo, and maybe the photos will give you some indication why. They seem to have ... personalities. Here's Nelson meeting Santa.

Here's Lester being Santa

And here's Linny, two seconds before going full Godzilla on the Christmas Village

[Thanks, Heather!]

Finally today, there's Nelly, who is now caught in an infinite blog photo loop. Here she is proudly admiring her photo from last year. Can't wait for next year ... and the year after that ... and the year after that ...

[Thanks, Ellen!]

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
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"Ratatouille" topper / THU 12-18-25 / "Colorful" Atlantic Coast Conference team / "Severance" actress Tullock / Mushroom in ramen / Knockoff version of a bejeweled Imperial egg, e.g. / Reveal private data of, in modern lingo / Follow-up to an oath / ___ Nation (activist organization since 1990) / Name that sounds like a computer guidebook / Jake's love in "The Sun Also Rises"

Constructor: Joseph Gangi

Relative difficulty: Easy-Medium

THEME: QQs — in four phrases, parts of words that sound like "cues" are replaced with two "Q"s

Theme answers:

• DARING RESQQS (17A: Feats performed on knights' quests)
• SYRAQQ ORANGE (29A: "Colorful" Atlantic Coast Conference team)
• "EXQQ MY FRENCH" (44A: Follow-up to an oath)
• UNJUSTLY AQQ (57A: Point at the wrong person)

Word of the Day: QUEER Nation (30D: ___ Nation (activist organization since 1990)) —

Queer Nation is an LGBTQ activist organization founded in March 1990 in New York City, by HIV/AIDS activists from ACT UP. The four founders were outraged at the escalation of anti-gay violence on the streets and prejudice in the arts and media. The group is known for its confrontational tactics and its slogans. (wikipedia)

• • •

The concept here is fine. It's a gimmick type I've seen before, where words or parts of words are represented in the grid by letters that sound the same. Syracuse is just an hour away from me, so I picked the theme up pretty quickly when SYRACUSE ORANGE(MEN) wouldn't fit and the crosses for the "CUSE" in SYRACUSE wouldn't work. I thought I understood the theme here:

But as you can see, I'd only understood the half of it. It was only when I had trouble parsing the answer for 10D: Spirits (LIQUORS) that I finally saw the theme in all its "Q"-ness. Saved by LIQUOR(S)! Gonna have a cocktail tonight to celebrate (who am I kidding, I was gonna have a cocktail anyway). 

I was enjoying the puzzle just fine, but then a spate of jarring things happened toward the end that left me with more of a meh feeling. The first and most jarring thing was "EXQQS MY FRENCH." I've only ever heard this phrase as "Pardon my French." It just rolls off the tongue that way. "Excuse" feels oddly formal(er) and just doesn't have the colloquial currency that "Pardon" does. Wikipedia lists the "Excuse" version as a normal alternative version, but it sure wasn't normal to my ear. "Excuse my French" appears to be the older version, but the only version I've ever known (which apparently dates from the '30s, and "may be a result of soldiers returning from the First World War" (wikipedia)) is "Pardon my French." Google returns ~2.2 million hits for ["Pardon my French"] and ~1.5 million for ["Excuse my French"], which isn't that noteworthy of a gap, actually. I suppose it's a real phrase. It just did not feel that way to my ears. 

Also bad on my ears: EMANUEL, as clued (42D: Name that sounds like a computer guidebook). First of all, if you can't find a real person for your name clue, consider that maybe you shouldn't use it at all. But if you are going to do this "sounds like" thing, make sure the sounds ... match. I pronounce EMANUEL and this hypothetical E-MANUAL really, really differently. At least I assume it's "E-MANUAL" I'm supposed to be imagining, and not simply "a manual." Why else specify "computer?" Anyway, E-MANUAL requires you to stress that "E," hard. And it's a long "E" too. The sound and rhythm of the word is simply not like EMANUEL at all. 

And then there's CUE—why is CUE in this puzzle that is all about replacing "Q"s? You gotta expunge all Q/"cue" business from the rest of your grid if your theme is based entirely on Q/"cue" business. So strange to have an un-"Q"'d CUE just sitting there. Like a fly in your oatmeal. Lastly, on the significant complaint list, is FAUXBERGÉ, which had me literally groaning and saying "noooo..." as I wrote it in (33D: Knockoff version of a bejeweled Imperial egg, e.g.). This is such a one-off, made-up, stupid "word," and the clue ... what is with the "e.g."?? Does Fabergé make things other than eggs, and are there knockoffs of those, and do people call those FAUXBERGÉ? I'm all for doing funny things with words—neologisms, portmanteaux, whatever—but this felt like an answer trying to be superfancy but stepping on its gown mid-twirl and falling on its face. If you're going to introduce a new word to the crossword, make it one that has some currency. Something I can use, or at least feel good knowing. "Nowadays, the term is a part of the expertise vocabulary in the field of Fabergé" (wikipedia). Which means how many people use it then? Like, six?

Otherwise, I thought this puzzle was just fine. Mildly clever. Not hard enough, but puzzles never are any more. Hardest part (as usual) was getting started. I fumbled more than usual in the NW, as I went through not 1 not 2 but 3 bad answers, starting with "YAY, US!" for 1A: "We're the best!," e.g. (BOAST). Just didn't process that "e.g." bit and went for a parallel phrase. A little later, I thought that [Some queens] were BEES (not a surprising mistake at all), and maybe a little before that, I wanted AIR tight instead of SIT tight (20A: ___ tight). I also forgot what a "piste" is. It's a word I've only ever seen in crossword clues, along with its skiing-related cousin, "schuss." Hey, did you know that Schuss, "a one-legged humanoid skiier with a large red and white head," was "the unofficial Olympic mascot of the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France" (wikipedia)? Here he is gliding down a piste, presumably:

I've never actually read The Sun Also Rises so BRETT (38A: Jake's love in "The Sun Also Rises") was a mystery today, as was JEN Tullock (59D: "Severance" actress Tullock). I thought DOX had two "X"s, but apparently, as with Pardon v. Excuse, there are two ways to do it (36A: Reveal private data of, in modern lingo). The double-X one just looks cooler. See also "Anti-vaxxers." I think the double-X makes it seem more sinister. Wasn't sure if Kermit was a HI-YO or a HI-HO. The former reads Lone Ranger, the latter Seven Dwarves. I never really thought about the expression that Kermit's using. HI-HO sounds right.

Bullets:

• 14A: Mushroom in ramen (ENOKI) — fungi's gift to crosswords. The premium crossword mushroom. You'd think MOREL would be more common, given its more common letters, and over the long history of the puzzle, it's true—there are more MORELs. But in the Modern Era (i.e. since Shortz), ENOKI actually has MOREL beat by a handful of appearances. ENOKI didn't appear in the crossword at all until 2006 (!), whereas MOREL's been trudging along as a crossword answer since 1945. Maleska really loved MOREL—six appearances in 1987. Don't say I never taught you anything!
• 56A: Off-line, online (IRL) — a nice sing-songy clue that is also perfectly accurate. "IRL" = "in real life—a very handy initialism for a world where so much human interaction takes place digitally.
• 51D: "Ratatouille" topper (TOQUE) — got this off the "T." I don't know if I learned this word from crosswords, but it feels like I did. Pretty popular as "Q"-containing words go (29 appearances in the Modern Era, and 46 before that).

Time for more 🌲🐈Holiday Pet Pics🐕🌲 now! Note: PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME ANY MORE PET PICS, I'M ALL FULL UP FOR THIS YEAR, thank you.

Here's Clancy, caught in the act. "I'm innocent! The tinsel attacked me!" Likely story, Clancy.

[Thanks, Ginny!]

Here's Gandalf, working security. No, you may not shake your present. Come back next week. That's right, keep moving.

[Thanks, Lily and Lizzie!]

Here's a rare sighting of the stealthy OrangeKat (RIP). One of the most ferocious of Holiday-time predators, OrangeKat was believed to be responsible for the deaths of scores of Christmas tree ornaments.

[Thanks, Barbara!]

Here's Doug the Bear Chow Chow, coming home after yet another failed mall reindeer audition. Someday, Doug will be Blitzen! Doug just knows it. Sadly, Doug can't be trusted to know much of anything. "One of the least intelligent animals I've ever met," says his owner. "That's probably why we all love him so much." 

[Thanks, Sam!]

This is Tom and Jerry. Do you think Jerry's mad that he got the mouse name? He looks kinda mad.

[Thanks, Vay!]

And lastly today, look at this giant sweet baby! This is Berk, 145 pounds of holiday love. Berk is a Kangal Dog rescue. Kangals are originally Turkish but have been exported to parts of Africa to defend local livestock herds from cheetah, thus helping preserve endangered cheetah populations (who would otherwise be killed by farmers). Berk could definitely fight a cheetah. He just doesn't feel like it right now. 

[Thanks, Karen!]

That's all. See you next time.

Signed, Rex Parker, King of CrossWorld

[Follow Rex Parker on BlueSky and Facebook and Letterboxd]
=============================
❤️ Support this blog ❤️: 

• Venmo (@MichaelDavidSharp)]

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✏️ Upcoming Crossword Tournaments ✏️

• American Crossword Puzzle Tournament (Stamford, CT, Apr. 10-12, 2026) (registration opens January 8!)

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📘 My other blog 📘:

• Pop Sensation (vintage paperbacks)

Read more...